Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Mr. We Miss You needs to actually hit the stage (and his notes for that matter) for the long awaited dream to come true, but we can live in hope can't we.

It was pretty hard deciding on which pic of the man to use for this post as most are either buff-D from a decade ago or ruff-D looking all bloated and unhealthy in his mug-shots.

So as you can see I plumped for the above classic from the sleeve of his absolute classic 'Voodoo' LP.
In the meantime, let's cross fingers, hope the man is doin' okay and have a listen to an all-time jam.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Hadn't heard of this guy, but I am really interested in what he has to say about the way that musical payback trends are inherently affecting the way listeners hear and consequently do or don't enjoy their listening experience of music.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Had to get a bit of post-pro done before I hit it up on Mixcloud, but here it is now for a listen.

No insane revelations, but a focus on his production with tracks from his back catalogue as well as touching on the subject of his cousin Heavy D who coincidentally passed away yesterday at the WAY too young age of 44.

With the Rugby World Cup facilitates most of the partying going on in New Zealand right now, all the party people need some dope tunes to keep their feet moving.

'The Cloud' at Auckland's waterfront is the "brainchild" of NZ's dorky Prime Minister but it seems to have made an impression, and whoever is programming the entertainment has their finger on the pulse by enlisting the DJ talents of legendary local DJ crew, The Turnaround.

The boys got high in the puffy shaped building on Friday night; check out a recording of their jam right here...

Thursday, September 8, 2011

She's So Rad is the band project of Jeremy Toy b.k.a Ota from the now defunct Opensouls.

Where Opensouls were firmly based in hip-hop and contemporary soul vibes, She's So Rad is a total departure with clear influences coming from the legendary "Dunedin sound".

<p><p><p><p><p><a href="http://shessorad.bandcamp.com/track/videos">Videos by She's So Rad</a></p></p></p></p></p>

...and definite links to British bands of the late 80's and early 90's. Think Ride, The Charlatans...

<p><p><p><p><a href="http://shessorad.bandcamp.com/track/iceblock">Iceblock by She's So Rad</a></p></p></p></p>

The man himself even narrows the LP's genre down to 'shoegaze'.

A one-word summary that doesn't quite sum it up.

Digging a bit further into his musical history though and the fact that Mr. Toy played guitar in semi-successful Auckland punk band Sommerset puts the sound of this record a little more into perspective.

There are also parallels in sound with modern artists such as Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, and Jonti.

See personal fave at the mo, 'Restless'...

<p><p><p><p><p><p><a href="http://shessorad.bandcamp.com/track/restless">Restless by She's So Rad</a></p></p></p></p></p></p>

For me, what I hear in it the most are early Cure and without question NZ's own John-Paul Satre Experience.

However, all of these other band names just serve as a reference point in describing what is going on here; this is a fresh, different, fantastic and rewarding album.

I am REALLY digging this and I wouldn't be suprised at all if it finds a fan in Sofia Coppola, it is right up her soundtrack ally.

Just think: "Sofia Coppola's new feature film 'Shoegaze' starring Marion Cottilard, Bill Murray, McCauley Culkin and Adrien Brody, featuring the music of She's So Rad."

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The diversity that is the STR label's stable means that it is now far removed from the strictly 'hip-hop' label that it was in it's early days.

One thing about MED is that he almost always picks great beats, and on his latest to-be-released LP his selection is no exception; Alchemist, Karriem Riggins, Oh No and a whole swag of beats from 'in-house' producer, the legendary Madlib the Beatkonducta.

Set for release on November 1st (I have already entered it into my diary), hopes are high for a banger of a record.

If early release 12" 'Classic' b/w 'Where I'm From' and the vid for 'MEDical Card' are anything to go by, we should expect one of 2011's stronger rap records.

@Peace is a local crew consisting headlined on the mic by Tom Scott from Homebrew with rhyme partner Lui Tuiasu.

A coming together of some great local talent including Christoph el' Truento on executive production, graf/artist crew Cut Collective on the spacious astrology cover art as well as Electric Wire Hustle's live engineer/fourth band member, Benny Tones doing the mastering.

If Homebrew's fantastic work sounds washed in beer and pills, then this is definately swathed in LSD and pot with Tom and Lui going for a more introspective feel on this one.